The prostitute on down on 14th Street says she’s practicing abstinence, the used car salesman says every car he sells is in perfect condition, and “The candidate for congressional District 10 says he is not using media.”
The latter statement is from the subtitle of an article about Texas Libertarian Party congressional candidate Michael Badnarik.
Wiki defines media this way:
Media (the plural of medium) is a truncation of the term media of communication, referring to those organized means of dissemination of fact, opinion, entertainment, and other information, such as newspapers, magazines, cinema films, radio, television, the World Wide Web, billboards, books, CDs, DVDs, videocassettes, computer games and other forms of publishing.
I’d suggest that the Houston Chronicle is not merely media, but would also be considered mainstream media. The mistake is probably the fault of a copy editor, as the writer covered the following:
However, Badnarik plans to bypass broadcast media and take his message directly to voters in the 10th Congressional District, which stretches from Harris County to Travis County, by handing out video discs explaining his positions. He faces incumbent Michael McCaul, a Republican, and Ted Ankrum, a Democrat.
I know some of my friends will criticize Allen Hacker for not using commercial advertising, but it clearly makes sense in this case. Take a look at the major media markets in the congressional district and you’ll see that most of them cover significant areas outside the district. Thin gerrymandered districts that only encompass the outside regions of the two major metropolitan areas in the congressional district make broadcast advertising pretty expensive for any candidate, much less a Libertarian running on a low budget.
Targeting district voters with a CD-ROM makes perfect sense. Direct mail campaigns make sense. Billboards make sense. Dumping half a million into advertising in other congressional districts does not.
I did talk with Allen Hacker and it does seem that Badnarik stepped on it with one small issue. Hacker confirmed Badnarik’s quote about being the only “true Libertarian” in Congress if he’s elected. In the libertarian world, we are used to the differentiation between Libertarian and libertarian, but this isn’t so apparent to the rest of the world. I’m told there was no intent to slight Representative Ron Paul, and my understanding is that there is an apology being e-mailed to Dr. Paul at this moment.
UPDATE: Here’s the apology I mentioned:
Mr. McVicker,
I want to thank you for writing the article which appeared in today’s Houston Chronicle. Your headline, “Badnarik tells delegates Libertarians can win” summarizes precisely the message that I hoped to express in my keynote address. I also want to thank you for quoting me accurately, which is the most any politician can hope for. Unfortunately, in my desire to stimulate the enthusiasm and passion of the delegates I regret that I expressed myself inaccurately. When I said that I hoped to become the first “real Libertarian” in Washington, my intended meaning was that I hope to be the first “declared” Libertarian in Washington. My poor choice of words could be interpreted to suggest that Dr. Ron Paul (R-TX) was not a “real Libertarian”, which was certainly not my intention. Nothing could be further from the truth. Congressman Paul is the hero of every liberty-loving American, and certainly everyone in the Libertarian Party.
In fact, I have explicitly patterned myself after Dr. Paul, with the hope that he will be my mentor (if and) when I win my congressional seat in Texas District 10.
Yours in Liberty,
Michael Badnarik
Libertarian Congressional candidate District 10
sucker, ʟʟᴄ